Riverside County voted overwhelmingly for Republican candidate John Cox on Tuesday, giving him 34 percent of the vote compared to just 23 percent for the leading Democratic contender, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom.

But that could change in November, when Cox and Newsom will present vastly different visions for some of the most important issues facing California's Inland Empire, from housing affordability and economic growth to environmental protection. The candidates have already made this once-red, increasingly purple part of the state a political priority, and that's unlikely to change in the run-up to the general election.

"In the best of worlds, it will be a robust and mature conversation about the kinds of challenges California faces, on issues from housing to improved job development," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy professor and director of the Center for Social Innovation at the University of California, Riverside.

Newsom made regular trips to the Inland Empire during the primary campaign, in part to counter an effort by his main Democratic rival, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, to build a coalition of voters across Southern California. Newsom participated last year in a speaker series organized by the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, where he discussed the challenge of automation in a region where job growth has been driven by the logistics industry. He has advocated for greater access to educational programs that give workers new skills and prepare them to switch careers.

Tina Shields, water manager for Imperial Irrigation District, answers questions from Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom about the Salton Sea from a hilltop in Calipatria on April 19, 2018.(Photo: Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)

Cox, who owns a home in Indian Wells, has visited the Coachella Valley several times as a candidate. During a campaign stop at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio in March, he threw red meat to the Republican base, saying Gov. Jerry Brown should be imprisoned for fraud and expressing newfound support for President Trump after having refused to vote for him in 2016. But he also discussed some of the key issues facing Inland Empire voters, including housing affordability and ever-higher cost of living.

"The cost of housing is the largest single cost in anybody's budget," Cox said at the March event. "What happens to business — or the government for that matter — when you've got housing costs that high?"

Both Cox and Newsom have called for huge increases in housing construction, although Ramakrishnan, the public policy professor at UC Riverside, said he's still waiting for more specifics from the candidates on how exactly they would make that happen.

"How are we going to get significant new housing development in this region, which we will need?" Ramakrishnan asked. "What kinds of solutions are they going to propose?"

In general, Ramakrishnan said, Cox's position on housing is "the standard Republican line...cut regulations including (environmental rules) to make building up housing easier to do." Cutting taxes and regulations has been a major theme of Cox's campaign.

During his campaign stop at Fantasy Springs in Indio, Cox also discussed climate change, which is expected to impact the California desert by contributing to more severe droughts and heat waves, and by exacerbating the hazardous air pollution that already plagues low-income communities in areas like the eastern Coachella Valley.

"I'm not going to say that I don't believe climate change is here. I think it's here," Cox said at the time. I don't know how much of it is caused by humans. I don't even know how much of it is negative. I think there are some benefits to it."

Newsom has made environmental protection and fighting climate change key parts of his campaign. He has called for California not only to get 100 percent of its energy from climate-friendly sources, but also to export clean energy to other states. Newsom's vision could be a boon for the Coachella Valley, where the solar and wind industries are key players.

Ramakrishnan said he expects Newsom and Cox to spend more time in the Inland Empire between now and November.

"We do represent the future of Southern California, the future of the state. Most of the population growth is going to be happening in inland California. But this is also where a lot of the challenges are most significant, in terms of the structuring of the economy," he said. "Hopefully by focusing on these problems, the Inland Empire will be important stops in both of those campaigns."

Sammy Roth is a reporter for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at sammy.roth@desertsun.com, (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.